Driving for New Rights, States Challenge Germany's Federalism Regional Leaders Are Calling for a Redistribution of Power, Seeking Latitude That Others Worry Could Upset the West's Long-Successful Social Equilibrium Series: As a United Germany Girds for a New Age, Regional Leaders Argue for Rethinking the Distribution of Power between Bonn and the States. Part 3 of Five. * Part 1: A Penchant for the Status Quo * Part 2: Bridging the East-West `Mentality Gap' * Part 3: States Push for Greater Rights under Federalism * Part 4: Keeping the Economic Engine Competitive * Part 5: Wielding Foreign Clout without Inspiring Fear

Article excerpt

THE rapid transformation of Germany from authoritarian menace
into stable democracy after World War II is one of the greatest
sociopolitical achievements of this century, and arguably counts
among the largest successes of modern history.

Underpinning Germany's metamorphosis has been the Basic Law, or
constitution, that enshrines a federal system with carefully
weighted checks and balances on central authority. The federal
system, in turn, created the stability for the nation's remarkable
postwar economic recovery.

But now - as a united Germany girds for a new age without
cold-war-era constraints on foreign and domestic policy - the
federal system is coming under pressure for change.

States are driving to win more rights from the federal
government. Meanwhile, partisan politics could challenge
federalism's status quo by creating legislative gridlock in the
Bundesrat, or upper chamber of Parliament.

Discontent with the distribution of power is simmering in
regions such as Bavaria, a southern state with a strong libertarian
tradition. (Bavaria dances to its own polka, right.) Some state
leaders argue post-cold-war conditions require realigning the
federal system.

Defenders of the existing model counter that tinkering with the
system could create long-term problems that affect everyone.

"No one should welcome this kind of struggle over power, least
of all the economy," wrote Hans Peter Stihl, head of the Bonn
think tank German Industry and Trade Council, in the Handelsblatt
business newspaper.

"It {the economy} needs a reliable and an as uniform as
possible legal framework to survive international competition,"
Mr. Stihl continued. Expanding states' rights would mean
"Germany's industrial competitiveness would then be at the mercy
of a clumsy bureaucracy."

A decrease in German competitiveness could have broad
consequences. The Continent's mightiest economy will be pivotal in
forging a prosperous European Union. But Bonn's ability to guide
that process could diminish if its economy slips.

German federalism's roots reach back to the Thirty Years War of
1618-1648. The end of that war confirmed the emergence of powerful
European nation-states, paving the way for the continental
balance-of-power games of the next three centuries.

Germany served as the Thirty Years War's primary battleground.
Afterward, the region developed as a buffer for great powers of the
day, and a unified German state did not immediately take shape.
Instead, inhabitants formed strong area ties as they rebuilt their
war-ravaged societies.

THE war also gave rise to a yearning for stability, paving the
way for authoritarian rule. But even as Bismarck's Prussia came to
dominate Germany in 1871, regional interests had to be taken into
account.

This century's two world wars smashed the old authoritiarian
order, but postwar West Germany promoted the sense of regionalism
in its federal system to prevent the return of a strong central
power.

The wide reach of modern communications has diminished regional
loyalty, but such allegiances have not faded entirely. "People
identify with their individual state rather than Germany as a
whole," says Prof. …